Application window closing for Wake County’s rental and utility assistance program
People who want to apply for pandemic-related rental and utility assistance through Wake County have until Jan. 21, to apply.
The $101 million program, called House Wake, has helped 3,900 households pay their rent and utility bills after seeing a drop in their income due to the pandemic, according to a news release.
“The assistance this program has been able to provide to thousands facing an eviction or utility cutoff is incredible, but unfortunately cannot last forever. We need to embrace the reality of the program ending,” said Wake County Commissioner Vickie Adamson in a news release. “We want to be good stewards of this process and only accept applications that we know we can fund with the federal dollars currently available.”
Wake County and Raleigh both applied for additional funds from the federal government but weren’t successful. The Jan. 21 cutoff will ensure there is enough money to help applicants through April 30.
Applicants must have one or more members of their household experiencing financial hardships due to COVID-19 and their income must not exceed 80% of the area median income.
More than 12,600 applications have been submitted to date with 3,908 approved, 2,602 denied and 5,197 still being processed, according to Leah Holdren, spokesperson for the county.
More than $28.2 million has already been paid out.
“Due to the high volume of applications received and limited staffing, there is a longer than usual waiting period between submitting an application and assistance payout, averaging around 4 to 5 weeks for processing,” she said.
Once the application is approved, the landlord is contacted for payment details. Payment is usually delivered seven to 10 days after that.
How to apply
Go to wakegov.com/housing or housewake.org or email housing@telamon.org. You can also call 919-899-9911 to request an application.
This story was originally published January 10, 2022 at 3:42 PM.
